Winter Canning and Baking

It has been 44 days since I last posted. In a nutshell, this is what I have been doing:

Driving husband to appointments: 3 days (incl. carpal tunnel surgery)
Driving myself to appointments: 3 days
Driving myself to get a massage: 3 days (much better than the dentist)
Getting together with friends/family: 10 days
Spending time with grandchildren: 12 days
Canning: 5 days

As you can see, few days lacked some sort of project or activity. Some days had two, but I try to limit myself to one project/activity per day: I am no longer 30 years old and brimming with ambition and energy.

I enjoy canning in the winter, when I don't mind heating up the kitchen. And if it gets too warm, I only need to open the door for a few minutes. A neighbor gave me some syrup/juice left from hot packing peaches and pears last summer. I put it all into the freezer, and now I have turned it all into jelly.

Last fall I froze many pounds of tomatoes; I didn't have the time or the energy to can them at the time. I have a little more energy now, so I have made a large batch of spaghetti sauce and a batch of salsa. Many more tomatoes remain in the freezer, so I will be making more tomato products in the future.

Other kitchen activities have taken place, some including grandchildren, or made for them.

Today I kept the oven busy again:

I also tried out a crockpot recipe for Quinoa Squash Soup. I didn't get a decent photo of it, but it was very tasty, in my opinion. My husband, however, found the texture and flavor unappealing. It was similar to the Autumn Squash Soup served at Panera, but not quite the same.

And that is largely what I have been doing for the last six weeks. The remainder is not nearly as interesting, so I will leave those parts out of this post.